Protecting kids from toxic chemicals

MASSPIRG’s Deirdre Cummings urged The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection,  a state legislative committee to get harmful toxics out of kids products and toys.

From her testimony, “There are more than 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, used in everything from perfumes, clothing, toys, household cleaners to fertilizers and industrial solvents. Yet most of them go directly into use without testing their impact on our health, or the long-term consequences for the environment.

Children, are especially susceptible to adverse health impacts of toxics and we should be doing everything we can to minimize exposure of toxics on kids. In fact, In January 2025, the New England Journal of Medicine published a major new article, written by 25 of the nation’s leading pediatricians and environmental health experts, calling upon policymakers to better protect children from toxic chemical exposures, particularly prenatal and early life exposures.

An Act relative to toxic free kids, H384 & S195, requires businesses that make or sell children’s products in Massachusetts to disclose certain known toxic chemicals in those products. It bans PFAS and other designated known toxic chemicals in children’s products and establishes a process for requiring the removal of additional harmful toxic chemicals from children’s products. Additionally, it requires the banned chemicals to be replaced with safer alternatives.”

Massachusetts should join other states like New York, Oregon and Washington who have passed similar laws.